Audio Pro

Release Date

Out Now

TL Audio Fat Track

With the rapid development of professional digital audio products, both hardware and software, the industry is relying less and less on analogue as time goes by. Nevertheless, big analogue consoles usually take pride of place at the centre of high-end recording studios and a hardcore few refuse to use digital equipment altogether.

Whilst the analogue versus digital debate rages on, most people would agree that each format comes armed with its own unique benefits and the smart money therefore is spent on taking advantage of both. Whether a fan of digital or analogue, there has long been an attractive compromise between the two in the form of a DAW/analogue console combination. Unfortunately, the choice of a digital desk – not an ill-advised one given the practical benefits – means that analogue signal paths will invariably constitute a rather small part of such a studio, if at all.

Enter TL Audio’s innovative Fat Track, with its ability to route a number of signals flowing in and out of various digital sources, whilst imparting superb analogue warmth and allowing the effective optimisation of gain and equalisation along the way. Though targeted primarily at the small studio owner, the Fat Track seems perfectly capable of benefiting anyone who feels that they have too many chips and not enough tubes.

At the heart of this versatile little unit is a pair of mono channel strips taken from TLA’s M1 console. As on the M1, they feature a three-band EQ with sweepable mid-range, along with FX send and pan controls, a sub-90 Hz high-pass filter, 30 dB gain reduction, 48-volt phantom power and a handy phase reverse button. Visual monitoring of the channels is via VU meters – a nice touch given the analogue heritage of the unit – but far the most exciting thing that these channels have inherited from the M1, are the premium tube, or if you prefer, valve, preamps that TL Audio is renowned for.

All connections to the Fat Track are made along the top row of the front panel, via either XLR or standard quarter-inch jack. Separate mono inputs, appropriately positioned above the pre-amp channels cater for mic, line or instrument sources. Stereo signals can be received via four two-track returns, the outputs for which are routed directly to the main channel via buss switches in the monitor section. All two-track inputs feature +4/-10 dB switches and rotary faders, positioned along the bottom of the unit, and prove very handy for accepting signals from stereo instruments.

The user is provided with a comprehensive selection of outputs, comprising both main and auxiliary stereo monitor outputs, full balanced stereo out on XLR, unbalanced stereo out, direct mono output for each preamp channel, tape out and two headphone outputs, each of which have separate level controls. Insert sends and returns are provided for both the preamp and master channels, each of which has its own bypass switch. Routing options therefore, are very flexible, but as practical as this unit is, for most its appeal will lie in the big sound that its name promises. Audio Pro International was keen to get it hooked up and find out just how good this was.

Via a DAW and digital interface, we sent several sounds through the Fat Track’s valve pre-amp channels, from various popular synth and sound module plugins, including Spectrasonics’ Trilogy and Gmedia’s Imposcar.

The first sound to get the Fat treatment was a ‘dirty’ Virus bass sample from Trilogy. Each preamp channel is equipped with a drive LED, which indicates how hard you are pushing the valves, so we were sure to make them smoulder a little. Knowing the effect of valves on sound, we were expecting a nice warm, chunky sound and we were not disappointed.

But, after recording the sound back into the DAW and doing A/B comparisons with the original, we noticed the Fat Track also had an effect on the high frequencies too, giving them some clarity and more pronounced ‘fizz’.

Building up a few more sounds over the bass-line, all of which benefited from being recorded down via the Fat Track, we were surprised to find just how useful the sweepable EQ was. TL Audio bills it as a ‘swept musical EQ’ and being loyal parametric fans, we were dubious. However, given our initial reservations, it was exceptionally adept at helping sounds to sit neatly in the mix. As in the case of some of vintage EQ modules, it proved that sometimes, less is more.

As a final test, we decided to run with TL Audio’s suggestion of bringing an entire mix back through panned mono channels to ‘add some final warmth’. The mix we chose was an ethereal breaks track with two smooth and constant bass-lines, the first of which was soft and hollow, while the second was not dissimilar to the Trilogy sample.

We weren’t concerned with equalising the track any further, rather, gauging the effect that the valves had on the mix as a whole. We purposely chose the track because we knew that the effect the unit would have on it – particularly when pushing the preamps into overdrive – would be fairly evident.

Giving each channel a healthy amount of gain, it was immediately obvious that the first bass sound had become a little sturdier and developed more presence around the 150 Hz mark. On the second, as with the Trilogy sample, the unit seemed to give it a touch more sparkle in the high end and had the effect of making it appear to spread more generously over the track. Acid-style stabs that had previously seemed a little harsh were softened out somewhat and this improved the harder we drove the tubes, though this was soon enough to distort the rest of the track too much.

Overall however, the mix appeared to become a little clearer and, unsurprisingly, fatter.

Not content with merely accepting that the Fat Track just makes things sounds better, we then decided to launch an investigation into exactly how.

To do this we first rooted out a sample in WAV format in a similar style to the ones that the unit seemed to have had the most pronounced effect on in our earlier tests. We then duplicated the sample exactly and positioned the two identically on two different audio channels in our DAW.

The first channel was left alone whilst the output from the other was rooted through a mono Fat Track channel, with EQ neutralised and back into a third channel on the DAW. All levels were equalised as accurately as possible, before a Waves PAZ frequency analyser was placed as an insert on both channels. Playing both identical samples at the same time, we recorded the results.

The results of the PAZ analysis showed us that when we drove the valve preamps hot, the Fat Track was certainly having the effect of both boosting and cutting certain frequencies from time to time. It visually demonstrated the presence that it can add to bass lines, showing a more sustained peak around 175Hz.

The most likely cause of this is the even-order harmonic distortion that valves impart to a signal, having the effect of ‘smearing’ the sound. The frequency cuts, on the other hand were likely to have been caused by the valves compressing the signal, and since this will happen to whichever sound in the mix happens to be driving the valve, could have a similar effect to side-chain compression, helping the mix to blend a little better.

In conclusion, one thing is for sure, those valves certainly make a cool difference, even if they do add warmth.